UN To 'Name And Shame' Countries That Kill Children In War
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to name and shame countries and insurgents groups engaged in conflicts that lead to children being killed, maimed and raped.
The council resolution will expand a U.N. list that in March identified more than 60 governments and armed groups that recruit child soldiers.
It reaffirms the council's intention "to take action" – including possible sanctions – against governments and insurgent groups that continue violating international law on the rights and protection of children in armed conflicts.
"This is a new, significant step for the protection of children by the United Nations," said Mexico's U.N. Ambassador Claude Heller, who sponsored the measure. "With this resolution, the Security Council sends a very clear political signal ... (that) the security and well-being of children must be respected with no exception whatsoever."
"Notwithstanding, we must also recognize that there is still much to be done if we want children to never again fall victim to the spiral of violence that armed conflicts generate," he said.
A resolution adopted by the council in 2005 took the first major step to prevent the victimization of young people in war zones by addressing the exploitation of children as combatants. According to the U.N., there are still some 250,000 child soldiers.
It endorsed the public naming of all governments and insurgent groups that recruit or use children as fighters and called on those parties to prepare and implement "time-bound action plans" to halt the use of youngsters in their militaries. It also established U.N.-led task forces to monitor and report on violations against children.
The new resolution condemns the continuing recruitment and use of children in armed conflict and all other violations against them – and it reaffirms that it will keep up the list of governments and armed groups using child soldiers.
It asks Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to add to the list "those parties to armed conflict that engage, in contravention of applicable international law, in patterns of killing and maiming of children and/or rape and other sexual violence against children." It also calls on the parties listed to prepare action plans to halt the abuses.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, the U.N. special representative for children in armed conflict, called the new resolution "historic," saying the expansion of "the list of shame" will have consequences.
She said who gets on the list will depend on the criteria, which are being discussed with lawyers and should be presented to the U.N. in about six months.
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EDITH M. LEDERER | 08/ 4/09 06:00 PM |